Greetings to all!

[Ultimo]

So, I only just discovered the existence of Homecoming, and I quickly joined up!  So... GREETINGS!

 

Ultimo will once more take to the skies, handing out justice to the unjust.

Alas, that I can't recreate my original main character though, the Canadian Shield.  The name is apparently already taken on all servers, alas.

 

No matter, I'll be seeing you all in Paragon City!  Again!

Edited March 1, 2020 by Ultimo

[Troo]

Welcome back!

[Troo]

fyi, these were all available on Indomitable:

Canadian Buckler,  Canadian Aegis,  Canadian Cover,  Canadian Defense,  Canadian.Shield,  Canada Shield,  A Canadian Shield,  Canadian Shield I,  Canadian Shield II,  Canadian Shield III,  Canadian Shield Esq,  Red Canadian,  French Canadian,  Imperviousness..

[Sakai]

Welcome home. It is great to search for that last glowie once again 🙂

[Ultimo]

1 hour ago, Troo said:

fyi, these were all available on Indomitable:

Canadian Buckler,  Canadian Aegis,  Canadian Cover,  Canadian Defense,  Canadian.Shield,  Canada Shield,  A Canadian Shield,  Canadian Shield I,  Canadian Shield II,  Canadian Shield III,  Canadian Shield Esq,  Red Canadian,  French Canadian,  Imperviousness..

Ya, I'm sure I could finagle something... it just wouldn't feel right.

 

Glad to be back, already got two characters back in the game.  See you all out there!

[DougGraves]

welcome back Ultimo!

[Dazl]

Welcome back, shame it took you a while to find us.

[Ulysses Dare]

Welcome home, Ultimo!

 

As for Canadian Shield, how do you feel about font shenanigans? Replacing shield's lowercase L with an uppercase I would look the same in the game.

[Abraxus]

Welcome back hero!  Nothing more satisfying that hearing that another fan of the game has found their way back.  I know there are lots more out there who'd love to play again, but just aren't aware that the game has returned.  Hopefully, someday soon, things will change to the extent that the call can go out on all available channels to bring them ALL home.

[Ultimo]

14 hours ago, Ulysses Dare said:

Welcome home, Ultimo!

 

As for Canadian Shield, how do you feel about font shenanigans? Replacing shield's lowercase L with an uppercase I would look the same in the game.

Tried that too.  In fact, I did exactly that thing and was able to create him... but on the lowest population server.  I kind of prefer more populated servers, which I why I started out on Excelsior (RIP Stan), but any port in a storm.  I'm debating whether to move the other characters there with him...

[Llewellyn Blackwell]

Seeing as how canada includes french canada  what about Bouclier? It might make your character by using one englisha nd one frnech word come across as more all of canada rather then just the british half?;)

 

Now I could edit out these spelling errors, but this right here folks is what typing at 5 am fresh out of bed with barely a sip of coffee in you looks like in text form;)

Edited March 1, 2020 by Bentley Berkeley

[Ultimo]

9 hours ago, Bentley Berkeley said:

Seeing as how canada includes french canada  what about Bouclier? It might make your character by using one englisha nd one frnech word come across as more all of canada rather then just the british half?;)

 

Now I could edit out these spelling errors, but this right here folks is what typing at 5 am fresh out of bed with barely a sip of coffee in you looks like in text form;)

An interesting idea...  Though, it still wouldn't feel quite "right," if you know what I mean.  I mean, if my name was Peter, it would feel strange if people called me Pierre.

However, I suppose I could try changing the spelling to "Canadien," the French...

[Llewellyn Blackwell]

2 hours ago, Ultimo said:

An interesting idea...  Though, it still wouldn't feel quite "right," if you know what I mean.  I mean, if my name was Peter, it would feel strange if people called me Pierre.

However, I suppose I could try changing the spelling to "Canadien," the French...

alternate language spellings are a classic way to reuse names so to speak. I mean if having a variation of the name for the concept is a must, its about the best I can offer.

[Ultimo]

Tried the French spelling.  Didn't like it.  What I ended up doing was putting the word "The" in front, but the game kept deleting it.  So, I put a period after "The" and recreated him as "The.Canadian Shield".

 

It's not ideal, but it's adequate.  Now I'm debating whether to recreate him as a Tanker (which is what he was originally) or a Brute.  I know the Tanker is sturdier, and the Brute does more damage... but how is the Brute's defense?  Any thoughts?

[Ultimo]

Well, I've been playing him as "The.Canadian Shield" for a bit now... and it's just really frustrating and annoying.  NPCs say his name with the additional "The." in it, and it just reads very strange and awkward.  So, I went back to try and rename him again.

 

I tried:

 

CanadianShield

-Canadian Shield

Canadian Shield-

-Canadian Shield-

Canadian-Shield

-Canadian-Shield-

I repeated these all with periods, then each one with multiple periods.  I suspect the game reads such names simply as "Canadian Shield" and ignores the extra punctuation marks, rendering them all useless.

The game won't let me use brackets or other symbols.  I tried using unicode characters, but the game doesn't recognize any of them.

 

So, with nothing left, I went back to the French spelling, "Canadien Shield" knowing the game would allow it.  I was reluctant, because to my eye it just looks like I spelled it incorrectly.  I mean, I know it's not an error, but it LOOKS like one.  But, what choice have I got?  So, into Atlas I went, where within 2 minutes I'd received several PMs that I'd spelled my name wrong, my worst fear realized.  I'm a bit OCD about my spelling, so this was like being stabbed in the eye with a fork over and over.

 

So, I feel stuck, frustrated and maddened.  This character was my main back in the day, and I really wanted to play him again... but I just can't, not like this.  I don't see any other option.  All I can hope for, is that the... Devs (?) not sure what to call them... the folks in charge will understand the problem, and come up with some kind of solution that will allow me to come back to my character.  I've suggested using the @handle as an "invisible" append to the character name, making it possible for several Canadian Shields to exist (mine would read as "Canadian Shield," but would actually be read by the server as  "Canadian Shield@Ultimo1"), but there seems to be some resistance to that idea.  Hopefully they can do SOMETHING to help.

 

In the meantime, I have other characters.  The Canadian Shield will just have to stay retired for now, alas.

[DougGraves]

That sucks. 

[Mister Mass]

Original Canadian Shield

Real Canadian Shield

Codename Canadian Shield

Operative Canadian Shield

Canadian Shield I

Canadian Shield!

 

Some variation like the above, playing the spaces, should work.

 

I feel you.  I never put the definite article "the" in the name because of the way that the comments from the public sound.  And misspellings make me ill too. 🤢

 

Good luck to you, shield of the northern lands! 🙂

[Ultimo]

I did try adding "Great" in there, (Great Canadian Shield), but there's not enough spaces.  Doesn't fit.  Playing with the spaces doesn't work either, it automatically deletes any extras.

 

As I say, I'll just have to live in hope that someday they'll make it possible to get the name.

[Mister Mass]

On 3/10/2020 at 4:29 AM, Ultimo said:

I did try adding "Great" in there, (Great Canadian Shield), but there's not enough spaces.  Doesn't fit.  Playing with the spaces doesn't work either, it automatically deletes any extras.

 

As I say, I'll just have to live in hope that someday they'll make it possible to get the name.

When I suggested playing the spaces, I meant removing some, or replacing them with hyphens or periods, since IIRC you can't have more than 1 space in a name.  (Correct me if I'm wrong - I might be thinking of another game.)  So try some variation on the following:

 

Great CanadianShield

Great-CanadianShield

 

I don't recall what the limit on the number of characters in a name.  I think it was 20 at one point, but I thought maybe it had been increased?  But the examples above clock in at 20, so they should be viable, if the limit is in fact 20.

 

If more than one space is okay, the following should work:

 

Real Canadian Shield

[Caulderone]

Going to quote myself from another recent welcome back thread:

--------------

Welcome home!

 

Here are some useful threads in the Guides forum to help getting started:

 

 

 

 

[catsi563]

Ohai new friend you bring the donuts? =^_^=

 

[Ultimo]

Tim Horton's.

 

[TheOtherTed]

On 3/1/2020 at 10:36 PM, Ultimo said:

What I ended up doing was putting the word "The" in front, but the game kept deleting it.

The "The" may not have been deleted, but rather treated as an honorific.  It will disappear in the character creator, but it should still show up in-game right where it should.

 

However, I have no idea whether it counts as part of the name (thus making it more unique), or as an add-on like a title.  All I know is that NPCs will drop the "The".